


Behind the Spirits

by GalaxyKitty



Series: Living with Spirits [2]
Category: Danti - Fandom, Septiplier - Fandom
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Hugs, I will always love hugs, M/M, Spirits, Supernatural Elements, Tags will be added with more chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-23 13:56:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14935584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyKitty/pseuds/GalaxyKitty
Summary: Kind of like one shots for my story "Dusks and Dawns" about scenes that happened throughout the story that weren't really detailed or weren't mentioned.It's kind of like behind the scenes... if there were scenes!Oh, well now I'm gonna name the title based on that now.





	1. Dark's Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter one of this story for chapter one of the other one, this one is all for Dark and a little of what he did before Jack and Anti came along.

The spirit woke up from a nightmare.

It wasn’t his nightmare. It was the boy’s nightmare.

He was woken up from the combination of pure terror… fear so bad it made the boy sick… and the being saw the flashes of the dreams as clear as day. They were horrid; even though this was the spirit’s first seconds awake, he understood the boy’s panic.

The boy was hyperventilating and crying, clutching his head to try to make the dream go away, fearing the thought of sleeping again…

The spirit felt sad…

Just as quickly as he woke up, the spirit maneuvered around the mind… his new home now… finding the source of the nightmares and making them disappear. He cleared the boy’s memory, making him forget the images of the dreadful nightmare… but could feel the boy’s lingering anxiety.

The spirit followed his instinct, knowing exactly how to calm the boy, and spoke ever so softly in the mind as to not frighten the boy more.

_Relax, you’re going to be okay._

The spirit sent a soothing energy through the boy’s mind to make him calm down.

_Take deep breathes…_

The spirit watched… as much as he could watch from the mind… as the boy started to ease his muscles, opening his eyes as the tears stopped, and followed the advice to take deeper breaths and stop hyperventilating.

_Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay now. Go back to sleep._

The spirit then forced the boy to fall asleep, seeing as his mind was vulnerable and easily able to manage.

The boy fell asleep quickly.

The spirit then put up a barrier around the mind, finding a way to protect the boy so he wouldn’t suffer any more.

The mind went quiet as the boy slept, no dreams clouding his mind.

Now, the spirit had to time compose himself and figure out exactly what was going on.

He was in a living room of sorts, no walls in sight, but cozy none the less. The room was dim, bright enough to see, but dark enough to fall asleep if one wanted. There were a few fluffy couches, a fireplace, nice carpeting, a coffee table along with a few other tiny tables holding things such as potted plants or miscellaneous objects. There was a book shelf on one end of the space, making the spirit smile a little. This seemed like the perfect place to read. The space was very warm… inviting… like it was surrounded by an aura of love and family.

The spirit found stair cases in the back, though they didn’t seem to lead to anywhere. He walked over there and as he reached the top step, the area around him shifted to turn into the roof of the room he was just in, flat with nothing to decorate it, but he also walked “outside” where it turned to night and there were hundreds of stars twinkling in the sky.

The spirit sat down on the flat roof, taking a moment to appreciate the view, noting that the boy was nowhere to be found in the mindscape resting area, which meant he was probably deep in sleep.

Who was the boy though? The spirit could tell he was male, yes, but he didn’t have much time to consider his age or appearance or anything.

The spirit decided to poke around the mind, finding the boy’s most recent memories - the easiest ones to deal with - and discovered that the boy was… a _boy_. He was a _child_.

It made the spirit more empathetic towards the boy.

He looked through a few other recent memories of the past days, discovering that the boy was in school, maybe first year in high school, saw faces of a few friends and family, and got a feel for who the boy was as a person.

He was quite curious as to who his human was, reasonably so now that he would be living with the boy for the rest of his life.

He was also curious about himself as well. He knew he wore a suit, he knew he was a precise and respectable person, he knew he preferred to be organized, he had a basic sense of who he was… but what was his name?

Something in the back of his thoughts told him “Dark”.

It seemed to connect with something within him, so he started referring to himself as so.

He was also curious about his new world. He knew there were other spirits and other people. He knew there was a difference between a human and a spirit.

Dark lifted a hand up, looking at his palm, before turning it to face the ground in front of himself and concentrated.

He followed his instincts once more and watched as a small shadow formed up from the ground in front of him and flickered with nonexistent wind.

It was rather small and felt trivial, but Dark was pleased with the new information. With practice, it could become a useful skill.

The spirit stayed awake the whole time the boy slept, trying to figure out if he had any other skills he could do at the moment, taking some time to think for himself, looked through a few other parts of the boy’s mind, until the child finally awoke.

Now that he wasn’t in a mindset of just being awoken and trying to calm the boy, Dark was able to understand that he saw with the boy, seeing the surroundings and the area just as the boy saw it, and could hear the child’s thoughts as well.

The boy seemed happy and confused, wondering how he was able to sleep so well but relieved that he did so anyway.

Dark watched as the boy got up and prepared for the day, and as the child walked into the bathroom, Dark took the chance to see the boy for himself.

He stood as a reflection in the mirror, looking down at the boy, and noticed he was a fragile looking thing, obvious bags under his eyes from countless nights of terrible sleep, but the spirit found the child to be… cute.

Once the boy noticed Dark, he was shocked into being fully awake and hit the back of the wall, rubbing his eyes only to open them again to reveal that Dark had left.

Dark knew there was no immediate danger to the child’s life, he would be able to block out the nightmares while the boy could continue on with his normal life. Dark didn’t know much about himself yet, but he knew he would be stern in the boy’s eyes and decided he wouldn’t trouble the boy with that… yet.

So he simply watched the boy from the mind, getting to understand who his human was as well as spending the nights practicing his abilities and getting to understand himself as well.

He knew he could take over the boy’s body, switching places and allowing him to interact with the real world, but he was a patient man. That and he didn’t want to work with a child’s body structure… they seemed awfully weak and fragile.

Sometimes, too, Dark would find the boy in the mindscape with him. That was how Dark learned to hide in the shadows, keeping himself hidden from the boy as to not alarm him or reveal that he was there.

As the days turned to months, Dark learned new things. He learned new abilities, learned that he could detect other spirit’s energy signatures, could start distinguishing them from one another through time, and he was quite appreciative of the spirit classes at the boy’s school.

Dark learned a lot from the classes, learning how his world functioned as well as different types and abilities. The teacher even had a guest instructor who used themselves as an example, showing their spirit with their own body standing next to the human as well as showing off their own skills and what it’s like for the spirit to switch places and control the body itself.

Dark caught a flicker of the boy remembering a day when he was even younger than before, when he first learned about Dusks and Dawns, thinking about how he would name his Dusk “Dark” if he had one because it rhymed with “Mark”.

Dark sighed…

So that’s how he got his name…

 

…

 

It was a few years later, Dark had gotten a full understanding of his abilities and his world… or at least as much as he could while never leaving the mindscape and never letting the boy… well, young man now… know he was there.

It was about… 7 years?

Dark wondered when would be a good time to let Mark know he was there.

Mark seemed to stay out of trouble, so there really was no need for Dark to interfere but… he _would_ like to… you know… exist outside of the mindscape. He basically doesn’t exist at the moment since he isn’t known to anyone and doesn’t do anything.

Hmm… maybe one day the opportunity would present itself.

Mark was currently preparing for a formal gathering with some of his friends; Dark was listening in on the phone call he just had with one of said friends, frowning at the human’s lack of formal education when it came for proper attire.

Suits were Dark’s signature style… he lived wearing one…

He watched as Mark put on the dress pants and shirt, leaving the jacket hanging on the back of the chair and the tie loose over his shoulders.

Dark waited for him to finish getting dressed…

 _I don’t have to wear all this fancy stuff, right? I can just take off the jacket once I get there and ties are overrated anyway._ Mark thought to himself.

… Guess this is the day then.

 _Absolutely not._ Dark responded.

The human froze and waited.

When nothing happened, he continued as before.

 _I’m hearing voices, that’s great._ Mark thought to himself and walked over to get his jacket from the chair, leaving his tie untied.

When he passed by his mirror, Dark changed places with the reflection, showing himself just as he did before when Mark was fourteen.

“I’m not going to let you go out there without properly wearing that.” Dark said aloud, pointing to the half worn suit on Mark.

“Y-you’re… the guy… from my nightmares.” Mark muttered.

“That would be incorrect.”

“W-what…? No, this can’t be real.”

“That’s what I thought when you were about to leave without properly dressing. You have this suit for a reason, now wear it correctly.”

“That’s not what’s important right now, who are you?!”

“You know about Dusks and Dawns, right?” Dark sighed.

“Yeah…” 

Dark picked up on Mark’s thoughts about how the news portrayed a lot of spirits as bad people.

“That’s because news outlets like to publish horror stories to attract more attention and make profits.” Dark responded to the thought.

“Did you just-“

“You may call me Dark; I’m your Dusk.”

He watched Mark walk back over to the chair and sit down

“I have a Dusk…”

“Yes.”

“Whose name is Dark...”

“Yes.”

“Really?” Mark gave him a funny look about his name.

“You were the one who picked that name.”

“What?”

“When you were a child, you said if you had a Dusk, you’d name it ‘Dark’ because it rhymed with Mark.”

“How do you even know that? I didn’t even remember that until now. Wait… did you wake up when I was a kid?!”

“No, I was awoken when you were having those nightmares at fourteen.”

“So when I saw that reflection that day…”

“That was me.”

Mark stood up and walked back over to Dark in the reflection.

“So you’ve been awake in my head for like… seven years?! Why didn’t you say anything?”

“After having those nightmares, you would’ve thought I was one of them that came to life or something similar, and that wouldn’t have helped any of us. Then I decided that, since you weren’t in any danger, it would be best to let you live your life normally for the time being.”

“And what made you decide to show yourself now?”

Dark unfolded his arms that he had across his chest and motioned to his own neatly dressed suit.

Mark looked over at his phone and sighed.

“Fine… just… help me tie the dang thing.”

“Certainly.”

Dark decided it would be easier to do it himself rather than instructing Mark through the mirror so he disappeared for a moment only to return with his own form in person.

It was very strange, having a form in the real world in a real atmosphere touching real things.

Dark turned to look at himself in the mirror for a moment, getting a clear view of himself.

At least he understood how nice suits were.

He turned to then help Mark, bringing his hands up to Mark’s neck, folding the tie neatly into a proper knot before walking over to the chair and picking up Mark’s jacket and bringing it to the human.

Dark then gave him a rundown of proper manners and the basics of formal gatherings before returning to the mindscape.

Mark was hesitant for a moment.

 _Yes, I’m still here._ Dark confirmed.

_You… can talk in my mind…_

_Yes, did you not pay attention to the classes in school? They told you about this._

_No, I know… it’s just weird for it to actually happen._

_Okay, but you’re going to be late if you don’t move._ Dark prompted and Mark frowned before grabbing his phone and going over to the front door to meet with his friend.

 

…

 

Mark was very odd for the first few days after finding out he had a Dusk. He was always acting like he wasn’t alone, which technically he wasn’t, but he was treating it more like a horror movie than just life. Everyone has a spirit, and Dark was a _nice_ one compared to other spirits.

The first time he had to go to the bathroom he ended up staring at the bathroom door without opening it, his thoughts bringing Dark out from his own “meditation” in the mindscape after they got repetitive enough.

 _I’m not going to watch you._ Dark sighed.

Mark jumped at Dark’s sudden presence.

 _Okay, that is definitely not helping._ Mark frowned, getting more uncomfortable.

_Just because I’m in the mindscape does not mean I am watching your world as well, I was actually resting by the fireplace but your thoughts got loud enough for me to switch focus to you._

When Mark’s mind still didn’t ease and he was beginning to get anxious from staring at the bathroom door without actually going in there, Dark sighed and made his form in the real world, walking over to Mark’s bedroom, looking over his shoulder and giving a look saying “happy now?”

Mark frowned but nodded and went into the bathroom.

He did that the first time he had to shower as well, making Dark wait in his bedroom, who of course took the time to snoop through the human’s belongings.

Eventually Mark started doing those things out of habit, forgetting about Dark possibly watching him, but Dark decided not to bring attention to it again because he _wasn’t_ watching him do that. Seriously. There’s no point in doing that.

Mark then got used to it and wasn’t concerned about it anymore.

 

…

 

Dark was picky when it came to some of the things his human did. He would constantly remind Mark about staying healthy and made sure to keep his things relatively organized. He only enforced it more when Mark was officially living on his own, no family or classmates or friends or school to keep him in check.

Mark would sometimes complain, calling him “mom” to emphasize that the nagging was unnecessary.

Dark would think of the little boy he wanted to protect.

Yes, the boy was definitely cuter than current Mark, now Dark wasn’t as sympathetic… at least that’s what he told himself.

Dark wasn’t too interesting in taking over the body either. He was content using his own form when he wanted to interact with anything, seeing as he generally stayed home.

Going outside was different, though.

Dark knew the basics of spirit society; he also knew that having a strong reputation would be desired.

He explained it to Mark, knowing the human would be hesitant having his body taken over for the first time.

So Dark decided to switch places with Mark on a relaxing day as to not worry the human and give him a chance to get used to the feeling of being in the mindscape, watching the world like a movie, while Dark was in control.

_This is…weird._

_For you, I suppose it is._ Dark responded, used to watching Mark’s life like that for many years.

 _Oh! Geez, you heard that, okay._ Mark was startled.

 _It’s just like how things worked before, we just switched places._ Dark informed.

Dark didn’t do much that day, just relaxed a bit and exercised some of his abilities with the human’s body as compared to his spirit body. He noted that, while in control of the human’s body, his abilities were stronger.

Eventually, Dark made his first appearance to other spirits.

The others didn’t pay attention to him much, seeing him as a boring stranger, and Dark didn’t do much at first either.

He first got a feel for L.A., learning who was at the top of the social latter, who was seen as the strongest, who was the most feared.

Dark had thought about planning his “debut” or however one would word it, but he didn’t get too far into planning as much as he just made his presence known.

He didn’t try to do anything for the purpose of making a name for himself when events happened, but sometimes he would see some of the “bad” spirits causing trouble and would simply put a stop to them.

When Dark’s name started spreading around a little bit, some of the lower spirits would try to win over him in battle, trying to climb the social chain themselves by besting the recent “new name” but they easily lost.

He started getting more well known for his style; he was less destructive than other spirits, keeping himself proper and organized to the point that even his fighting seemed as though there were charts planning out the very fights taking place in a split second.

He started winning over others with his smooth style of talking, showing himself to be an intuitive and well-informed man.

As his name spread around town, his experience grew as well and he soon learned that he was one of the few spirits to have been gifted with a high amount of energy, being able to stand up longer than most and could easily prove to be stronger than most, not to mention that he was a Shadow Dusk, an intimidating opponent if they knew how to execute their abilities, which Dark did.

Dark’s presence then attracted the attention of another powerful Dusk, this one by the name of Fate, and the two proved to be a powerful team when they worked together.

Then, it didn’t take long for Dark to finally reach the top of the spirit world of L.A. People from out of the area started hearing of his name, though he didn’t care too much for that, but he was satisfied with his status now.

He was beginning to become a feared Dusk as well, even more so because he didn’t choose to join an association even though Fate had offered to make one with him and others have offered a place in their groups as well. He was alone which meant he followed his own rules and the other spirits knew he did not appreciate troublemakers.

Mark teased him about what the others would think of him if they knew how “mom” he was sometimes.

Dark responded by saying he was “mom” to Chica.

Mark said Chica was adorable and was a totally valid reason to “mom”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know my other story had an updating speed that was outstanding but I'm also tired from that and would like a break soooo this'll probably be relaxing updating speed.
> 
> Comment what you think, I love hearing from you, and comment any ideas/scenes you want to see added here!


	2. Anti's Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of what Anti did when he first woke up!  
> It does switch a little between Anti and Jack's POV though.
> 
> Also, there is the section of when Dark first appeared in the mindscape and I tried to make it more of Anti's POV but the dialogue is the same so it might seem a bit repetitive but it's there still...

The spirit woke up from an uncomfortable wave of sickness and a mental alarm going off saying something was seriously wrong.

… What the hell was happening?

His instincts were telling him that his human was in danger... from something… something wasn’t right with the human.

The spirit continued to follow his thoughts, focusing on the human’s body and trying to narrow down what exactly the problem was. He knew his human was sick, could tell the body wasn’t functioning properly, and found something in the stomach area of the human.

By concentrating more on it, he could distinguish the area of poison, striking out to him like a glowing goop almost while everything else was dull, showing nothing out of the ordinary.

Okay, so the human was poisoned…

The spirit didn’t really know what to do, but his instincts were directing him none the less, so he took hold of the poison... symbolically…? He was able to find it and take it although he wasn’t literally putting his hand there, then used his energy to dispel the poison and start healing the body after it was gone.

His human was shaking, sweating, and looked miserable, so he made the human go to bed and fall asleep to help with the healing process.

Then everything was quiet…

Now the spirit had time to collect his thoughts and figure out where he was and what just happened.

He was standing in the middle of a grassy field, a large tree in the middle with a wooden house-like building not too far off and a circle of trees surrounding everything else like a wall.

It didn’t really help with figuring out what was going on, though.

The spirit thought for a moment before concentrating on leaving the mindscape and found himself standing in his human’s bedroom. He looked around a bit, then looked down at himself and titled his head. He turned to the human, seeing him lying in bed still looking uncomfortable but getting better slowly.

Maybe the human knew what was going on.

The spirit walked around the house a bit, looking for clues, and found a mirror so he could look at himself properly, only to find out that he looked very similar to his human.

Strange.

He fiddled around with a lot of stuff in the human’s apartment, not really understanding what everything did, until he found a book about spirits laying underneath a pile of other books, almost looking forgotten.

The spirit pulled it out and started looking through the pages, realizing that it was an introductory book about what to expect when you first get your spirit and the first steps to take.

The spirit recognized right away that he was the “spirit” the book was talking about and started reading through it to try to learn more about himself.

Unfortunately, it didn’t help too much since everything was rather vague and basic, saying how the reader should buy the next book of a specific type after finding out what exact type of spirit they had. Either way, the spirit had the gist of it.

Eventually, the human woke up and started moving, eventually walking into the kitchen where he found the spirit laying on the counter with an arm hanging over the edge with the book propped up against the toaster.

The human froze, still recovering from the aftermath of being poisoned, and started at the stranger in his kitchen.

The spirit looked up from his book and tilted his head in curiosity at the human.

“So you’re my human?” He asked.

“You’re…what?” The human frowned.

“I’m your spirit.” He clarified. “What’s your name?”

The human seemed to realize what had happened and relaxed a little bit, having prepared himself for the moment he met his spirit for a while… though he never actually expected it to happen today… or any day for that matter.

“I’m Jack… and you are?” Jack responded and walked into the kitchen a little to get a better look at his spirit.

The spirit himself sat up and hung his legs over the edge, taking a moment to think.

“I’m not sure.”

“You’re not… sure?”

The spirit stood up on the counter, being careful not to hit his head on anything as he walked over to the other side.

“Hey! Get down from there, you’re going to get yourself hurt!” Jack yelped.

The spirit walked over to the refrigerator and found a collection of knives in their wooden holder on the top of the fridge. The spirit grabbed one of them and slide it out of the wooden hold before turning it in his hand a bit and tossing it to his other.

“Ah! No! That’s not safe!” Jack argued.

“Keeping knives on top of this isn’t very convenient.” The spirit hummed as he grabbed another knife and started juggling the two.

“Please stoooop.” Jack continued, getting afraid to approach the spirit now that he had knives.

“What’s so scary about this?” The spirit smirked as he started juggling a third.

“Oh my gooood.” Jack left the kitchen, trying to stay a safe distance from him. “You’re like the opposite of me… I got a spirit who’s playing with knives on the first day.” Jack then said mainly to himself.

“Ha, I’m your opposite, I’m like your… Anti!”

Jack noticed the change of tone and looked at the spirit in confusion as he put the knives back.

“That’s my name!” The spirit smiled.

“Anti?”

“Yeah!”

“O…kay. But… can we talk about this without knives or any other dangerous objects?”

Anti nodded and the two ending up sitting at the dining table while they tried to clear everything up.

Anti didn’t really know too much about himself; when Jack asked what type of spirit he was, he just shrugged and stated that he didn’t know.

It ended up being Jack as the one who explained everything, describing the human world as well as everything he knew about the spirit world, which wasn’t much. They ended up looking to the internet for answers, and when Anti specified that he knew he was a Dusk, they started looking through the entire list of Dusks to see if anything sparked some type of familiarity to the spirit. Unfortunately, the list was long and they only got through a few before getting tired and Anti said none of the ones they looked at seemed right.

Jack went to bed later, the day quickly ending, though Anti stayed out in the apartment and started scrolling through the list some more. He got bored, still not finding anything that seemed familiar and started looking around in the apartment again.

He hopped up on the counter again to go get the knives from the fridge, getting two from the holder before juggling them again. He started messing around a bit and lost his balance, one of the knives being thrown sideways as he fell off the counter. He reached out the grab the other knife and found himself… floating.

He looked down at the ground, seeing that he was indeed not touching anything and was hovering in the air, then smirked. He started moving around a bit in the air, trying to get used to it, before racing around the small apartment room with a smile.

So that was a cool ability to have.

The next morning, Jack found him playing as though he was sitting on the ceiling and frowned. His spirit was looking to be more and more… lively.

Jack had to go outside that day and asked if Anti could hide in the mindscape for a while, knowing that from his readings, and knew that people usually kept their spirits hidden for normal public activities unless they wanted to pick a fight with someone or deal with others who were against certain types of spirits. It was just easier to manage when there was only one person out as well.

While he was outside, he found that Anti liked to chat a lot and asked a lot of questions while they were out. Jack answered until he started getting tired and just wanted to get his errands done for the day.

When they got back home, Anti left the mindscape again and started toying around with Jack’s stuff again.

For a while, Jack looked up a lot of information online and even tried the library to learn more about spirits, and more specifically, what Anti was, but didn’t get very far. The closest answer he got to was that some spirits need to first exhibit abilities and traits before you can figure out what type they are and some just need time.

So they just went through life normally… or at least Jack’s new definition of normal now that he had a spirit in his life.

That’s when he found at Anti was more cat-like.

There was a day when he order something online and it came in a rather large box, mostly filled with foam and other cardboard pieces, but he opened it in the living room area and brought the actual object he ordered into his room. He went back into the living room later only to find that the rest of the stuff that was in the box was thrown out of it and was scattered around on the floor and the box itself was upside down. Looking more closely, he realized there was a small rectangle cut out on one of the sides and could see Anti’s eyes watching him from inside of the box.

… It was kind of funny actually.

Then there were the more frustrating times when Jack was writing notes and got up for a second to see Anti sitting on the table with the pencil on the floor.

Jack picked it up and started writing a bit more, then put it down to flip through a book and heard the pencil rolling on the table. He looked up to see Anti swatting the pencil between his hands and tried to ignore the sound until it fell again. He sighed and bent over to grab the pencil once more, putting it flat on his notes and hoping it would stay there only for Anti to started swatting at it again. After it fell the third time Jack gave up and decided he could finish the notes later.

The same thing happened with cups. When they were empty, Jack just sighed and picked them back up, but one time Anti knocked over one with lemonade and Jack got upset over it even though Anti insisted it was an accident.

Jack also found him playing with knives multiple times and he started getting worried over it, not wanting to keep the knives accessible to Anti any more. Jack told Anti about it and said he would get rid of all the knives in the house if he caught the spirit messing around with them again.

He got up one night to grab a glass of water only to find Anti in the kitchen twirling the knives around, but when the spirit realized he got caught, he looked at Jack with wide eyes before disappearing from sight.

It surprised Anti just as much as Jack, but the spirit quickly grinned after realizing that he could teleport, much to Jack’s dismay.

Anti tried to find the knives on a later day only to realize that Jack was being honest about getting rid of them, or at least hiding them from him, and pouted.

He started following the motions with his hands as if there were a knife there, sighing as he pretended to throw one into the air and catch it again. Just as he was about to throw it again, he felt his energy spark in his hand and watched as a knife materialized there, flickering a bit and looking different than the ones Jack had, and he was surprised. He tossed it in the air again and caught it, then tried to create another one and smiled as a second one formed and he started juggling again.

Jack found him later juggling more knives again and gasped, not recognizing the knives or where Anti found them, but soon got his answer when he saw Anti smirk as all of the knives flickering into disappearance as he created a new one in his hand out of thin air.

Jack sighed once more, wondering what he had done in life to deserve this.

Anti eventually wanted to go outside for himself and explore the world so Jack compromised and said he could go out at night as long as he didn’t disturb anyone or get into trouble.

The first time they switched, Jack stayed awake in the mindscape to keep an eye on Anti as he got used to being in control of the body. He tried to float like he usually did in his spirit form but found it was a lot harder to do in a human’s body and decided to just walk instead. He didn’t go very far, teleporting around a bit and standing on a few roofs to see the area.

After proving to Jack that he wouldn’t do anything bad while he was out, Jack trusted him to keep his word and started going to sleep in the mindscape when the spirit was in control.

Now that Jack wasn’t watching, though, Anti started getting more daring and explored more. He wasn’t planning on doing anything wrong, intending to keep his word, but he found a strange building with people in it and got curious. He teleported into the room and found a group of people gathered around in a circle with candles doing something. He tried to get a closer look and found a rather large shelf of shiny knickknacks and other odd objects and started snooping around. He picked up a shiny coin of some sort along with a badge and a seashell. He was going to grab something else when he accidently ended up knocking over the shelf and obviously getting the attention from the others in the room. They shouted and started attacking him from a distance, but he quickly teleported himself out of the room and went back home.

When Jack woke up the next morning and found the objects on the counter, he looked over at Anti with confusion as he explained what happened last night.

“It was weird! I was looking around and I found this one building with a bunch of weirdos that looked like they were starting some anime-inspired cult and I went to get a closer look to see what they were doing but I knocked over a shelf, so they found me but I teleported out of there so we’re good. They didn’t look happy though, they tried to attack me, probably since their stuff is probably broken now but it’s not my fault their shelves are flimsy and easy to knock over!”

Jack looked back over at the objects again and sighed. They were probably stolen.

 

…

 

When the Dusks trashing around in L.A. started getting closer to their apartment, Jack started getting worried and Anti was getting upset himself. Jack asked if Anti knew anything about it, which he didn’t, and they only got more anxious over it.

Anti had never actually fought against another spirit before and didn’t have too much experience in the world either. He wanted to protect Jack but he also didn’t know if he was capable of doing that in his current state.

Anti could tell that the Dusks were getting closer each night, but he was still inexperienced and couldn’t really distinguish between them or even get any information on them.

Eventually Jack had texted Mark and they moved out of the apartment.

They used Anti’s box as part of the packing.

It was also the last time Anti saw his box.

…

Anti wasn’t too enthusiastic about living with Mark, it certainly had its perks but it wasn’t ideal either. Anti was stuck in the mindscape while he was there, no longer being able to mess around in the house or lay on counters anymore. He tried to keep himself entertained in the mindscape, rolling down the hill and going through every room in the wooden house, but it got boring quickly. At night, he would sit with Jack in the mindscape and they would talk, but Jack usually had his attention on other things when he was awake, so they didn’t talk much there.

Then Jack had his first nightmare.

When nothing significant was happening while the human was asleep, they would usually end up in the mindscape where their spirit lived. When they were having a dream or a nightmare, they would be “living” in that dream rather than in the mindscape, which is what happened then.

Anti transported himself to the nightmare after realizing what was happening and found Jack trapped in strange black tar that was slowly sinking while looking up at a horrible gorilla panther creature that was waaaay larger than normal animals. Anti could feel a strange terrifying aura in the area that only amplified Jack’s fear and made Anti feel sick himself.

Anti had a hunch that another spirit was causing this.

He quickly teleported over to Jack and hovered in the air above the tar, grabbing onto Jack’s arms as he pulled him out and barely managed to escape in time before the creature swung a heavy clawed hand at them.

Anti tried to bring the two of them back to the mindscape to force Jack to get out of the nightmare, but whoever was causing the terrible dream in the first place was making it difficult and Anti ended up having to use a lot of energy to get them out of it.

They were back in the peaceful mindscape area of the grassy field, sitting underneath the large tree, and Jack was shaking while hugging himself. Anti maneuvered to sit in front of the human and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asked, concern obvious in his voice.

“Yeah… it was just… it felt awful. Usually nightmares are just _visual_ and you wake up and realize it’s all fake but… I feel actually sick from that…”

Anti frowned but nodded, knowing what he meant.

The second time it happened, Anti found Jack in a strange room while everything else around him was huge, like an Alice in Wonderland scenario, and things started falling from every direction, ceiling included. Anti had to maneuver around the mess as well to get to Jack and get the two of them out of there.

The third time Jack was running through a dark forest being chased by faceless animalistic creatures again, but the nightmares were getting worse and it was getting increasingly harder for Anti to find the human as well as the air getting sicker with each night. The spirit frantically looked around in the woods, trying to follow the sounds of the creatures as Jack would probably be there as well, and found him get chased into a corner. He managed to teleport in front of the human before the first animal struck, taking the hit for him and struggled to get the two of them back to the mindscape. It was getting harder to do that as well…

They were both starting to suffer from this…

The fourth time was in an arctic setting, the air feeling sick with a new stinging sense with each breath. The nightmare was dark again, making it hard to find Jack again, but heard the muffled screams as Jack was clawing at the ice while struggling to stay afloat in freezing water, splashes frantic and covering his head, and he eventually slipped and fell under the water as something grabbed his foot and dragged him underneath.

Anti teleported as quickly as he could to the water, following the human down and grabbed onto his hand as he tried to bring them back to the mindscape, but the water seemed to suffocate his abilities and made everything seem to fall in on itself.

He summoned a knife and cut off the strange appendage grabbing onto Jack, holding onto the human as he brought the two of them back up and onto the ice before Anti mustered up what he could to bring the two of them back successfully this time.

The fifth time Anti found Jack hanging off the edge of a cliff and the distance below was not only causing Jack to hyperventilate but there were more of those strange creatures waiting at the bottom. Jack was freaking out too much and couldn’t keep himself up on the edge long enough to Anti to find and get to him and ended up falling, screams only enforced with his fear of heights.

Anti jumped off the cliff after him, bringing the two of them back right before they hit the bottom, but Jack was shaking badly.

Anti held onto the terrified human closely, trying to calm him down as he cried from the awful nightmares and the increasingly foul feeling in the air. Anti tried to comfort him, saying they were back at the mindscape again and they were safe, but they both knew the nightmares were only going to return again next night.

Anti was also noticing the state of the mindscape, though the main tree still looked the same, the ring of trees around the area was beginning to grow withered and sickly.

Whoever was causing these nightmares were going to pay…

The sixth night, Anti could hardly even see anything. The nightmare was almost pitch black, air thick and vile, floor rumbling slightly but enough to feel like there was a nonstop earthquake going on. Anti called out, trying to find Jack, but he couldn’t even figure out where he was himself. He felt a strange energy… was that from the spirit causing the nightmare? It was getting worse, almost as if it was on every side of the nightmare, and Anti called out again for Jack. The area started to rumble more and Anti started getting more frantic as he looked for Jack… then he felt something else… something else that somehow cut off the source of the nightmare and jolted Jack awake.

Mark was in the bedroom with them and Jack ended up moving to lay in bed in Mark’s room for the rest of the night.

Jack fell asleep again and the two of them were resting underneath the base of the tree until Anti perked up and looked at one of the tree walls in the distance.

“Is something wrong?” Jack asked.

“Probably nothing… just stay here.” Anti responded as he got up and teleported over to the line of trees but staying out of sight.

He noticed someone else there… frowning at the thought and only got more upset after realizing it was another spirit. He felt his energy spark in rage as he teleported over in front of the spirit to greet him.

“So, you finally decided to show your face.” Anti grinned and tilted his head, though he was mainly smiling at the thought of finally getting rid of the spirit who’s been causing the nightmares.

“If you think you can just come in here and wreck the place, then you’re out of luck.” His smiled faded as he summoned a knife.

“You have me mistaken for someone else.” The spirit responded.

“Oh really?” Anti cackled. “I guess I should just let you go then.” But he instead transported the two of them over to the wooden house where he could pin the spirit against the outer wall using his energy and tricks of his own mindscape.

“Or not.” Anti added continued.

He then paused as he stared at the spirit, not exactly knowing what he should do since this was his first real confrontation with another spirit like this. He watched as the spirit seemed to inspect him before speaking again.

“You must be Jack’s Dusk.” The spirit said.

“Doesn’t matter what I am, you should be more concerned with what I’m going to do to you. And I’ve had a lot of time to prepare a list.” Anti growled, moving his arm back to throw a knife at the spirit.

Before the knife could hit, though, the spirit broke the bindings holding him against the wall and appeared behind Anti.

“Your energy, although certainly lively, is not very strong yet.” The unknown spirit added.

Anti whipped around and quickly jumped back from the spirit, confused as to how he escaped so easily.

“And based on your hesitance to confront me now and how you were earlier, I’d say you’re new as well.” The spirit continued.

“The hell?”

Anti then noticed as the spirit started walking over to the tree, basically ignoring him, and he quickly teleported over in front of the spirit again to prevent him from getting any closer to Jack.

“Don’t you dare…” Anti growled lowly, getting angrier and more serious but also afraid of what the spirit could do to Jack.

The spirit glanced over at the tree and Anti got increasingly tense.

“Hmm, that’s where Jack is, isn’t it?”

At that, Anti rushed forward at the spirit, hearing those words as a threat to Jack as he swung another knife straight at the unknown spirit. Anti, however, realized that his attacks were being deflected easily and they were instead getting closer to the tree and jumped back again to halt their movements as he stood between the spirit and the tree.

“Anti, is that you?”

“Stay back!” Anti called out, but Jack had already walked up behind him.

“What are you-“ he noticed the spirit. “I-is that the guy who keeps bringing those nightmares back?”

“I told you to stay back!” Anti growled once more.

The spirit didn’t move but Anti didn’t trust him for a second as he kept his back close to Jack in a protective manner.

“I told you before, you have me mistaken for someone else.” The spirit said calmly.

“Like I’d believe you.” Anti spat.

The spirit sighed.

“I haven’t once tried to attack you or Jack, nor have I done any damage here, but you should be able to tell that my energy signature is different than the one who has been causing the nightmares.”

“The hell does that mean?” Anti responded.

The spirit looked over at Jack, almost as if he was asking “really?” before turning back to Anti.

“I don’t know how long you’ve been awake, but obviously you’re still new to this. You’ve had these nightmares for a few days now, so you should have been able to notice a reoccurring energy signature each time the nightmares come back. Now, as Dusks are the ones who can have nightmare abilities, the Dusk with the same energy signature as that is the same one causing the nightmares. Now…”

The spirit kneeled down and put his hand flat on the ground and Anti could feel a sudden wave of energy, though it didn’t seem harmful and was small. The spirit then stood back up.

“That was a sample of my energy. You should be able to recognize that my energy is not the same as the one causing your nightmares.”

Jack looked over at Anti, waiting for a confirmation, but Anti still didn’t want to trust the unknown spirit who just appeared.

“If you need another reason to trust me, then you should be able to recognize the familiarities I have in my appearance with someone else.” The spirit added and Jack finally recognized who he was.

“I am Mark’s Dusk, Dark. He asked me to see if I could help with the nightmares, so you should also be able to feel the barrier I have up around the mindscape right now.”

And sure enough, when the two of them looked up, they could also see the faint blackish purple cover all around the area of the mindscape, reminding Jack of a force field.

“So this is what Mark meant by barrier…” Jack said aloud.

Dark nodded ‘yes’ and turned his direction back to Anti who still didn’t want to trust a practically stranger.

“How do I know this isn’t some trick?” Anti scowled.

“I already explained how I couldn’t be the one responsible for the nightmares, but if I was, why would I show myself now and tell you who I am so you could easily attack me in the real world?”

“…”

“Anti…” Jack finally said after a moment. “I think we should trust him…”

“…”

“What he said about the energy… he’s not the same guy, right? The energy is different?”

It was true… the same strange and uncomfortable energy that he had felt during the nightmares didn’t match up to Dark’s sample of energy… but this guy was still a stranger and he didn’t want to rely on him or even have him anywhere near Jack. But if what he was saying was true and he was here to help stop the nightmares… Anti didn’t want to give in so easily, and he was certainly going to keep his guard up, but these past few days have been hard and he didn’t want to watch Jack suffer any more…

He finally gave in and eased up his stance, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Fine…” He sighed.

Jack seemed relieved and had a spark in his eyes after looking at Dark and thinking that they were finally going to solve their nightmare problem.

“So you’re here to help get rid of the nightmares, right? What are we supposed to do now?”

Dark explained that he wanted to see the area that had taken the most damage from the nightmares and Jack led him to the little gazebo area.

Anti, however, made sure to stay directly between Jack and Dark, watching him closely to make sure he didn’t try anything and that he could get to Jack easily in case he did.

Jack and Anti stayed back while Dark checked the gazebo before returning and stating that he didn’t recognize the energy, but now that he knew what it was, he would be able to recognize them in the real world.

They returned to the large tree in the center, but Anti watched Dark the whole walk there and still didn’t want him in the mindscape with Jack.

They talked a bit, Dark explaining how he made it to their mindscape in the first place and how he suspects a Dusk that specializes in nightmares is the cause of Jack’s recent dreams. He then stated that he’s been awake for 14 years, surprising both Jack and Anti.

Anti had mixed emotions at that; he was interested to get to know a bit from what Dark knows, envious of his experience, still upset about him being here in the first place while keeping an eye on Jack, and he was also unsure if it is true that Dark really has been awake for 14 years…

Anti decided to keep glaring at Dark, not saying much of anything as Jack came up with questions that, admittedly, Anti was curious about as well.

It seemed that Dark had caught on about Anti not liking him here and soon left to return to his own mindscape.

“I won’t tell Mark about Anti nor will I tell him you know about me. I’ll leave that up to you.” Dark added before vanishing.

It wasn’t long before Jack woke up himself and returned to the real world.

Throughout the day, though, Anti was irritated that he had to be “rescued” by Dark anyway and was having an internal fight with himself over keeping Dark as far away as he could from the two of them or letting Dark teach him about the spirit world since he clearly knows more and Anti really needs all the experience and information he can get if he wants to keep Jack safe and protect himself as well.

There was no way he would admit that though.

Eventually night fell and the two of them were talking back and forth over what they should do until they heard Dark walk past saying that Mark was asleep which led to Jack running downstairs with Anti behind him.

Jack managed to get Dark and Anti to go searching for the Dusk together and they left for the night to find him.

Anti, though he would never admit it, was a little excited to have a mentor now.

He spent a good amount of time of his first month awake wondering about the spirit world and his abilities, it would be a good opportunity to learn more…

He definitely was never going to admit it though; if Jack knew he was right, he would constantly flaunt it to Anti.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely got upset over Anti loosing his box T.T
> 
> Also, I tried to keep everything even but if there's something that contradicts itself in my main story, please point it out so I can fix it. XD It's a bit hard to write when I don't have the story fresh in my mind.


	3. Dark's Feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a comment asking about Dark's feelings as he was falling/fell in love and I've been stuck with it for a while, just pondering it for weeks. The problem was that his feelings were spread out through the chapters of the story, it wasn't a oneshot thing I could really do easily AND I already did describe Dark's feeling's throughout the story as well, but this request was to make it more in depth and I was stuck for a long time about HOW I would actually do that.
> 
> So, this chapter is going to seem long (and it took me a while) but a lot of it is parts from the other chapters, about from chapter 3-15 so there's a lot of stuff going on. In addition, I didn't really change much of those bits because that's simply what happened in the story, it's fact, and I restate a lot of it incase you had forgotten what happened and needed a reminder because I don't expect you guys to remember exactly what happened in all those chapters.
> 
> I did my best, though, to tune into Dark's feelings more.

Dark met Anti. It wasn’t a spectacularly eventful meeting, Anti thought he was the spirit responsible for the nightmares, but nothing terrible happened and they didn’t hate each other, so that was good.

He was a sparky being, Dark gave him that much; he was lively, energetic, and seemed to like knives. He was able to learn a lot just by watching how the spirit acted when they first met, how he was protective around Jack and how Jack was comfortable around him. Dark could tell that Anti was one of the good spirits, not one who was likely a psychotic killer or mad man.

While they were all underneath the tree, Jack asked a lot of questions about spirits which not only allowed Jack and Anti to get some information, but it told Dark that Anti not only was new at being a spirit but didn’t know much about it either.

Alright.

Dark felt the familiar emotion he hadn’t put a name to rise up again, one that he had when he watched Mark as a child grow up and learn about the world as well as the moments when Dark taught him about spirits.

He found that he wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea, but decided that was the end of that as he left Jack’s mindscape to return to Mark’s.

 

That night he was preparing to go out and search for the Dusk responsible for the nightmares. As he walked through the hallway by Jack’s room, he heard Jack outwardly complaining and could tell he was responding to Anti.

“Mark’s asleep by the way.” He said as he passed by the door.

He walked down the stairs and to the front door, fixing his suit for the night and heard shuffling as Jack ran down the stairs with Anti following.

Jack asked if Anti could go with him to find the Dusk, and although Dark had expected the two of them to stay home, he decided he wouldn’t mind the company and saw it as a good learning experience for both Anti as a spirit and for Dark to see what type of spirit Anti was.

He agreed and watched as Anti took over the human’s body, opening his eyes to reveal the one green left eye.

“Alright, let’s go find this damned Dusk so Jack will stop complaining.” Anti frowned and walked past Dark, not looking back.

Dark followed and stopped next to Anti as the two of them stood on the sidewalk outside.

“Ya got a plan, Dork?” Anti asked while lolling his head to the side.

Dark noted he was mocking him and gave the spirit an unamused look before putting his hand on the spirit’s shoulder.

“Yes, but for that nickname I won’t tell you what it is.” Dark responded and tightened his grip as they dropped into the shadows.

“Uh…” Anti was getting visibly nervous. “but I can’t… do this… I don’t…”

“As long as I’m holding onto you, you’ll be fine.” Dark responded.

“O-oh.” He reached up and grabbed onto Dark’s arm as reassurance.

Dark looked over, saw the discomfort in Anti’s eyes, and kept a firm hold on his shoulder, knowing he wouldn’t let go and the spirit would be safe.

They traveled quickly through the shadows, Dark forgetting what it felt like to travel with another spirit and found it was nice. With the way Anti looked around in awe like a child would the first time they visited an aquarium, Dark was finding that he was starting to like the idea of Anti staying at the house. Thought it was obvious Anti was keeping a tough outer appearance, Dark could tell he was soft on the inside.

They arrived on the first roof that Dark had chosen for their search and he immediately started to scan the area for the energy signature that belonging to the Dusk they were looking for. After a few minutes, Anti got bored and asked about it.

Dark explained what he was doing and how Anti would have an easier time finding the Dusk since he was the one who was directly affected by it. Anti stepped up next to him and closed his eyes to focus and try to do what Dark had explained. Dark found it nice; the night was peaceful and he glanced at Anti to see his face looking calm as the moonlight reflected off his skin lightly.

Maybe having another spirit around wouldn’t be so bad.

He watched as Anti tried to distinguish the different energy in the air and let out a sigh after a while.

“I got nothin’.”

“I haven’t picked anything up either. So now, we move to another area.”

Dark put his hand back on Anti’s shoulder as the traveled through the shadows again, Anti still hesitant but tried to relax none the less.

The repeated the process for a while and Dark was growing more and more fond of the other spirit just being there. He hadn’t realized how lonely he was, but he never considered that he could’ve been lonely in the first place. It made sense, though, given that he wasn’t part of an association and didn’t spend time with many others, only really seeing others for business reasons.

It was about two hours later when Anti was finally getting tired of it.

“Is this really the only thing we can do to find the Dusk?” Anti sighed as he plopped down ungracefully on the next roof.

“How do you suggest we find them, then?” Dark asked while walking over to the next building on a shadowy bridge between the two.

“I don’t know. Don’t you have connections or something? Ya know a guy who can find who you’re lookin’ for, that kind of stuff.” Anti teleported to the next roof, following Dark.

“No, we don’t live in an action movie where we conveniently know the right people.” Dark replied.

“You’re no fun.”

“I didn’t know this mission was for ‘fun’.”

Even though he didn’t show it, Dark found it amusing that Anti would think of that. 

“Well it doesn’t have to be so damn borin’ either. We don’t even have any snacks or anything to-“ Anti stopped mid-sentence and immediately tensed up, whipping his head around to glare.

Dark realized right away that Anti had found the Dusk and tried to follow Anti’s eyes to see what building he was looking at, but didn’t have time to ask as he teleported quickly off the roof and left Dark.

Dark sighed and returned to the shadows, easily finding Anti’s new position from his energy signature and stepping up next to him, being sure to give him a bored look for leaving him.

Anti muttered to himself about revenge before leaving Dark once more and teleporting through the front door, Dark watching with the same bored look.

Usually he would be upset by this, but he found he couldn’t really get mad at the other spirit and knew that this was Anti’s first “real mission” and decided to let him get some experience in. That and he had already assessed the situation himself, knowing the other spirit was alone in the house and wouldn’t pose as a threat that Dark couldn’t deal with.

Anti would be safe.

Dark decided to stay back and watch to see how Anti dealt with another spirit, a learning experience for both of them.

Anti seemed to be doing well at first and nothing bad had happened until the other spirit pulled out a gun. Dark heard the shot, saw Anti’s knife fall from his grip, saw the spirit stumble forward while clutching his stomach and coughing up blood.

Dark felt himself go cold as his usual hold on his energy signature snapped and his mind immediately planned for the holder of the gun to suffer.

The Dusk had shot Anti and Dark did _not_ like that.

He watched as the Dusk stiffen and started getting nervous from Dark’s overwhelming energy in the room and lifted his gun to shoot Anti once more.

No, there would be none of that.

As the trigger was pulled and another bullet raced towards Anti, Dark quickly brought up a shadow to protect the younger as it caught the bullet and dropped it on the floor.

This Dusk deserved a lot worse, now, for trying to kill Anti.

Dark maneuvered in front of the Dusk before stepping out of the shadows to reveal himself, catching the Dusk of guard but didn’t give him much time for anything else as a shadow twisted his wrist to make him drop the gun and another flung him across the room.

Dark dealt with him quickly, not wanting to spend time on the nuisance, and turned to find Anti after the Dusk was taken care of.

Anti was sitting on one of the steps and was leaning against the railing, clutching his stomach and coughing up blood. Dark felt himself get worried about him, and he didn’t worry over much, trying to get his attention.

He didn’t know if Anti would be strong enough to endure a long trip through the shadows and didn’t want him to hurt any more than he already was.

He finally got Anti to respond, but he wasn’t looking any better.

“Do you think you’re well enough to make it back to the house?”

“I don’t know, Dorko, do I look like I’m doing great?”

“If you’re awake enough for sarcasm, then you can make it.” Dark sighed before picking up Anti bridal style.

He was still unimpressed with the nickname and didn’t want to be called that for much longer but was relieved to see that the spirit still had his playful attitude and wasn’t in enough pain to stop it.

Dark carefully brought the two of them back into the shadows, being careful of Anti’s injury and moving slowly as to not bother it more and keep it from twisting painfully. He saw Anti close his eyes and noticed his consciousness wavering.

“Hey, you can’t go to sleep just yet.” Dark said softly as he gently nudged the spirit in his arms to wake him up.

After a few minutes, they finally arrived back home and Dark brought them up to Jack’s bedroom and placed the spirit in his arms on the bed. He ripped the shirt around the bullet wound to get to it easier as he told Anti to stay still.

He slowly moved his hand up and over the wound as a small shadow followed his movements. Carefully, the shadow moved into the wound, maneuvering around the bullet before pulling it out, trying to be as gentle as possible as to not agitate the wound more even though he knew that spirits can heal and it wouldn’t really matter either way.

Dark watched patiently as the wound slowly stitched itself back together, wanting to be certain that the spirit would be okay.

“I’m fine, you can go.” Anti grumbled after it had healed.

“You nearly passed out from blood loss, you are not _fine_.”

“We can _heal_ , dumbass, I don’t need your help.” Anti growled.

Dark stood up from the bed and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Yes, he knew spirits can heal, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still worried.

“Fine, if you do not want my help then I’ll go.”

“Good.” Anti muttered.

Dark didn’t feel okay, though.

…

Dark didn’t see any signs of Anti as the days went on. Mark had yet to know that Anti existed and now that the Dusk causing the nightmares was gone, there was no reason for Dark to return to Jack’s mindscape.

Now that he knew he was lonely before, it only made the realization worse when he was alone once more.

It didn’t matter, though. If Anti wanted to keep his distance, then so be it.

…

Mark was getting a phone call from Jack; Dark had thought nothing of it until he heard the fear in Mark’s voice and tuned in to the call. He found out that Jack, and by definition Anti as well, were hurt and in trouble. Not long after, Jack had ran through the door to the house and crashed into Mark.

“Oh my god, Jack, you’re bleeding!” Mark yelped.

“Don’t worry about me and worry about the Dawn still out there!”

Mark grabbed Jack and held onto his side as he led the younger over to the couch and set him down on it. He looked exhausted and in pain, making Mark scared and Dark worried as well as unnervingly cool about finding the Dawn.

“Uh, Jack, I don’t… ah, crap.” Mark had mumbled, knowing Dark would need to switch for this but afraid because he didn’t know Jack knew of his existence.

“Mark…” Jack breathed out. “I trust you.”

Mark started internally panicking when Jack had closed his eyes as his head fell to the side.

_Mark, he’s not dead; we need to focus on the Dawn!_

_He’s bleeding! There’s so much blood! We need to take him to a hospital or-_

_Mark! Listen to me! Our first priority is the Dawn; if we don’t take care of him then Jack will die for sure!_

_Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh-_

_The faster we deal with the Dawn the faster I can take care of Jack, now go!_

Dark took over and was now thoroughly pissed off at the Dawn for this.

He quietly walked over to the front door, watching it as though he could see through it, and waited. He could sense the Dawn was approaching. Then he stopped. The Dawn began moving around towards the back of the house.

That was fine, it didn’t matter to Dark where the Dawn decided to show up; he was going to die either way. Something inside of him twisted at the thought of the other spirit dying and it was followed by confusion for being concerned in the first place. Anti somehow left a strong first impression on him.

The Dawn’s aura fluctuated. Dark hesitated for a bit, wondering what that meant, until the Dawn seemed to be moving around to the other side of the house. Dark looked back at Jack laying on the couch, his stomach moving slightly with each breath.

He didn’t like this…

The Dawn seemed to be climbing up to the second story, so Dark lowered himself into the shadows and moved up towards Mark’s room.

Something didn’t feel right…

He followed the Dawn’s energy, knowing something was odd about it, then heard a thump from the living room and immediately darted over there.

He found Anti lying on the floor with more blood coughed up and the Dawn standing over him with the spear.

Dark brought a shadow up to grab the spear and yank it down into the darkness. The Dawn frantically started looking forward but Dark didn’t give him much time as he violently pushed the Dawn onto the ground and used shadows to keep his legs, arms, and throat held tightly.

Dark silently stood over him, looking down on him with cold eyes.

He was able to control his aura this time, keeping it contained in order to keep any extra stress it might cause Anti from furthering the pain.

He questioned the Dawn, finding that the spirit was here for their association, but decided to kill him regardless. The spirit had hurt Anti, tried to kill him in Dark’s own home, and the thought of someone doing that was simply unacceptable.

No one was to lay a hand on Anti.

Dark dealt with the Dawn, not bothering to do any more as he quickly turned his attention to the younger Dusk lying on the ground in a growing pile of blood. He carefully lifted the spirit in his arms and moved to the couch, laying the spirit on his back.

Anti groaned as Dark carefully squeezed his arm to get his attention. He didn’t want to jostle the younger spirit but he needed the spirit to respond.

“Anti, I need to know what type of Dusk you are.”

Anti only grunted in response and Dark felt his worry grow.

“Anti, this is serious, I need to know what type of Dusk you are.”

“I don… don’t understan…” Anti breathed out.

“I’m specialize in dark energy and shadow manipulation, so I’m generally referred to as a ‘Shadow Dusk’. I can give you some of my energy, but I need to make sure that it’s compatible with you and won’t hurt you, so I need to know what type of Dusk you are.”

Anti’s lack of a presence was starting to worry Dark; he could hardly feel his aura, and that would only happen if his energy levels were dangerously low, which is extremely bad for any spirit. He wasn’t healing the wounds and he looked like he would pass out at any moment.

“I don’t…”

“Anti, I just told you what I’m trying to do-“

“No, I don’t know… what type I am…”

Anti didn’t know what type he was? How does a spirit now know what type they are? It’s like a person not knowing their own name.

“How do you… never mind, can you tell me what you specialize in or something that you’re good at so I can at least get an idea?”

Anti turned his face so he was no longer looking at Dark.

“I…” 

“Anti?” Dark grabbed Anti’s hand that was closest to the edge with both of his, holding it up tightly. Anti’s presence was fading fast.

This couldn’t be right, Dark had barely any time to get to know him…

“Anti… isn’t there something…?”

Anti shook his head, looking frustrated.

Dark didn’t want to do this, but he was going to have to try to give Anti his energy anyway, and hopefully it wouldn’t hurt him. It was the only thing Dark could think of that would be able to save Anti because if the younger didn’t get help fast, he and his human may die. Dark has never felt more scared for someone’s life other than his own and Mark’s before.

“Okay, Anti, I need you to focus. I’m going to give you a small amount of my energy and you’re going to have to tell me right away if it’s hurting you.”

He waited until Anti gave a small nod before concentrating on directing a small part of his energy to his hands, carefully transferring it to Anti through his grip on Anti’s hand. He watched Anti’s face closely, looking for any signs of discomfort or pain. After a few moments, Dark noticed his face relax just a bit. Dark got a bit more confident, transferring more energy at a time, but still kept his eyes trained on Anti. A few minutes passed and Anti let out a sigh.

“It doesn’t hurt?” Dark wanted to confirm.

Anti shook his head “no” and Dark noted that his aura had returned slightly.

“Okay, okay, you’re going to be okay then.” Dark replied before letting go of Anti’s hand to move one of his hands onto Anti’s chest.

“It would be easier to transfer my energy directly to the center of yours.” Dark explained when Anti gave him a confused look.

Then, Dark focused once more on directing his energy towards his hand on Anti’s chest. However, this time he didn’t restrict it as much as he felt his energy flow through him and into Anti. He watched as Anti’s breathing got better and the visible cuts on his body started healing themselves. His eyes closed as he visibly relaxed, but Anti was still exhausted, and even though he was getting energy back, he still needs time to recover. He drifted off, getting much needed sleep.

Dark let out a sigh of relief as the younger spirit fell asleep as the body started healing. He cared about this spirit, for some unknown reason, and he found he was willing to do a lot to keep him safe.

It was a peculiar emotion, but not entirely unwanted.

Dark had a lot of energy to spare so he stayed by the couch sharing his energy for a while until Anti’s aura returned completely and the spirit subconsciously switched to return Jack as the one in control, still sleeping. He didn’t want to risk waking up the younger man by carrying him to the bedroom, so Dark stayed downstairs and kept an eye on him for a while until he found that Mark was growing tired and switched with him to let him sleep.

…

 

That morning, Anti had woken up and stormed off to the bedroom, waking up Mark in the process. Dark offered to talk to the younger spirit as the two humans stayed downstairs and the older spirit approached the bedroom where Anti was hiding.

He knocked on the door, getting a bothered reply from Anti, and quietly opened the door to see the younger spirit sitting on the ground leaning against the bed, knees tucked in with his head leaning against them.

“Can’t you see I don’t want to talk?” Anti grumbled.

“But you should.”

“About what, huh?!” Anti was getting mad and lifted his head to glare at Dark. “About how you had to save my sorry ass twice now?! About how I failed at protect Jack _twice_ and almost died?! About how you think I’m just some useless pain in the ass you have to put up with for Mark’s sake?!”

Dark finally connected the dots, understanding why Anti was so upset. Dark honestly hadn’t thought of those two times he saved him as anything bad; he was only concerned about the spirit’s health and wanted to protect him. He didn’t find it a bother at all, really, and would be willing to do it again and again to keep the younger spirit safe. However, the younger spirit saw it as a weakness, a thing that Dark could dangle over his head and boast about, some reason to prove why Dark would be superior. It wasn’t the case, though, it was to be expected for Anti to struggle with his very first attempts at fighting another spirit; it would be concerning if Anti _didn’t_ struggle at first. It should be seen as a learning experience, a way for Anti to learn from his mistakes and improve, but the spirit thought he was being seen as a problem right from the start now.

“Well, I don’t need your help, I never asked for your help, I can take care of myself!”

“Anti, that’s not-“

“No, I don’t need you!”

“Anti-“

“I’m fine by myself!”

Anti clutched his legs lowering his head again and continued arguing with Dark. Dark walked over to him, kneeling down so he was eye-level and spoke more firmly.

“Anti, you need to calm down.” He gently placed his hands on either side of Anti’s face, lightly cupping his cheeks.

It was hurting him to see the spirit like this… He wanted to prove to Anti that he didn’t see the younger as weak or inferior or anything of the sort. In fact, it was looking more like Anti was the one who was holding power over Dark, having the older spirit caring for him more and more and willing to do more than he would like to admit right now.

People refer to this as being wrapped around someone’s finger, if he was not mistaken.

“I don’t need you. I don’t need you.” He was shaking now.

“Anti!”

“I don’t need you.”

“Anti, listen to me!”

“I can take care of myself, I don’t need you!”

“Anti, you have to stop comparing yourself to me!”

He finally said it, getting Anti to stop rambling and snap his eyes up to look at Dark who sighed lightly, then continued speaking, voice soft.

“You’re not me, and you’re never going to _be_ me, but that’s okay, you’re not supposed to be anyone else other than you.”

He saw as Anti’s eye’s starting getting blurry with tears.

“Anti, you have to understand that I’ve been doing this for _fourteen_ years, you can’t try to match up with me.” He gently rubbed his thumbs on Anti’s cheeks, carefully wiping away blackish clear tears from his face.

“And you don’t even know what type of Dusk you are, Anti, of course it’s going to be rough for you right now. When you were fighting those other spirits, it’s like you were in a competition where they had trained for years in preparation for it and you don’t even know what the competition _is.”_

Anti started sniffling, more tears falling as Dark leaned forward, resting his forehead on Anti’s and closed his eyes.

“Anti, you are strong, you are courageous, you are smart, and even though you try to hide it, I can tell you are kind-hearted.”

Dark leaned back a bit so he could see Anti’s face, wiping away more tears that had fallen.

“I’m here for you, so let me help you…” Dark finished.

Anti looked at Dark with a tearstained face, then lowered his head as he reached up to grab Dark’s hands and bring them away from his face. Dark frowned, Anti was still pushing him away... 

He was about to get up to move when Anti fell forward, wrapping his arms around Dark’s chest. Dark was taken by surprise, but smiled softly while wrapping his arms back around Anti as he snuggled into Dark’s chest. Dark held Anti as he silently wept in his arms, gently rubbing Anti’s back in comfort while the other hand was caressing his hair. After a few minutes, Anti’s crying had reduced to sniffles and Dark carefully moved them so he was now the one leaning back against the bed with Anti curled in his lap. The lights were still off, so Dark was able to create a shadow and draped it over the two of them, acting as a warm and safe blanket. He let Anti nuzzle into his chest as he continued rubbing soothing circles on his back. When he felt Anti’s breathing steady, he leaned down to place a soft kiss on Anti’s head.

They stayed like that for a while; Anti had fallen asleep and Dark spent the time relaxing with Anti in his arms, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath. He hadn’t known Anti for long, yes, but he had grown fond of him in this short amount of time.

Eventually Jack had entered the room and Dark moved the shadows to lift up Anti and quietly carry him back to the living room. He figured that the others might want to talk.

They did talk as they sat downstairs in the living room, though quietly as to not wake up Anti. They talked about the association that may be after Anti, how Jack first came to meet Anti, and about the Dawn.

Through the rest of the day, Dark held Anti closely in his arms, eventually moving to lay down on the couch and shifting his legs up as well, setting Anti carefully down on his chest so the younger can lay comfortably as well. A part of Dark had relaxed, knowing the other spirits was sleeping soundly in his arms and would be protected there; as long as Dark was there, he would make sure nothing bad happened again.

Eventually the humans left to go to bed and Dark stayed downstairs on the couch with Anti. He stayed awake, keeping an eye on the house as he usually did, even more so now because of the recent attack. He found that he was comforted by the weight of the other over him, though, and wouldn’t be opposed to it being a reoccurrence.

Dark thought he should be more concerned with the sudden change of emotions like this, he still hardly knows the spirit, but he couldn’t get very far with those thoughts as Anti nuzzled against his chest in his sleep and smiled. Anti made his doubts fade away.

Dark noticed when Anti woke up that morning, knowing he was hovering nearby and watching him, but when the spirit turned his attention away Dark took the chance to sit up and open his eyes.

They made breakfast together, or more specifically Dark made breakfast with Anti watching, but Dark found it to be a relaxing morning none the less. He was feeling content this morning, not minding the chore of making food.

The humans later came down and ate, complementing the food, then Dark led Anti back up to Jack’s bedroom to try discover what type of spirit Anti is. His intentions were to narrow down the list of spirits that could apply to Anti, but he also asked some questions that he was curious about to better understand Anti himself.

Dark was surprised when he finally determined what type of spirit Anti specifically was, one he thought he wouldn’t ever see in his life.

“Anti, you’re a Glitch. You can glitch through the system of this world.”

“So… I’m…” Anti started smiling.

“You’re a Glitch Dusk. I hadn’t thought about it before because it’s so rare to find one, but Anti… you’re one of the strongest spirits out there… if not _the_ strongest type.”

Dark grabbed both of Anti’s hands and held them between the two of them.

“Are you serious?” Anti smiled wider.

“Very serious. Unfortunately, because your type is rare, I don’t know too much about it, but you’ll become an impressive Dusk soon enough. You’ll most likely become even stronger than me as well.”

It was true, although Dark had significantly more energy than Anti and had more experience, Anti’s ability could allow him to easily defeat any other spirits once he was able to control it better. Dark found he didn’t mind, though; he wasn’t concerned with Anti’s ability potentially threatening him but was rather proud instead.

Dark noticed when Anti’s smile lowered as he looked at their hands, knowing the other spirit was sensing the slight change in their energy, and smiled back at him with warmth in his eyes. He leaned forward, resting their foreheads together as they both closed their eyes.

“Did you notice?” Dark hummed.

“Why does it feel different?” Anti finally asked, keeping his voice low in this strangely intimate position.

“We’re starting to have a connection.”

This would be Dark’s first honest connection, a true connection with another spirit that wasn’t for business reasons or formed because he goes on missions with them often. This connection was formed because of their bond and Dark’s sudden captivation in the younger spirit had sped up the connection’s initial creation greatly.

Dark hoped it would continue to grow; he was fascinated with it and the strange warm feelings it brought.

He helped better explain what a connection was to Anti and smiled when he realized that Anti was happy with the bond as well.

Dark wondered how he had gotten lucky as to find an adorably energetic spirit who was also one of the strongest types out there.

…

It was nearing time to go to one of the important spirit gatherings in town. Dark figured that the association that was after Anti would be there and knew that he would be able to talk them out of it, or rather scare them out of it with his presence, if he made an association with Anti. With his reputation and well-known strength, he knew that other spirits would keep away from Anti in fear of Dark going after them if they make one wrong move.

There was another reason, though. Dark wanted to make an association with Anti just to be in a group with him. He knew that if they were in a group together, then he would always have a reason to be with the other, whether Jack and Anti decided to move out later or not. Whatever happened, Dark knew he would be able to at least have this. He feared the thought of Anti leaving him and the only thing he could think of to quell his thoughts was to form an association. It wasn’t that Dark was afraid of something bad happened that would separate the two of them; this was Dark’s first honest relationship with another spirit. He didn’t know _how_ to go about it properly from lack of experience; he didn’t want to ruin what he had and never have a reason to talk to the other spirit again.

Thankfully, Anti agreed to join the group and Dark created it, adding a clip to his tie and going to add something to Anti as well.

“It’s not gonna be a dinky tie clip, is it?” Anti sighed.

“No, pick an accessory type and I’ll put it on.”

He watched as Anti looked around his own body for where the symbol could go before he lifted a hand and tapped his left ear. Dark stepped closer until he could reach a hand up to Anti’s ear, gently brushing fingers on either side of the ear and used more energy to create a flat earring with the symbol on it.

“With this symbol…” Dark started, taking his hand away from Anti’s ear as the earring was complete. “You are now part of this association.”

Dark was happy, feeling that pleasant warmth of contentment as he smiled softly at the younger spirit.

They left to go to the gathering soon after, Dark ordering Anti not to provoke anyone and to stay close.

It didn’t take long for Anti to wander off, heading over to the drink table and resting there. It wasn’t exactly “close” but it was within eyesight and Dark could still see him clearly, so the older spirit let it go.

It didn’t take much longer again for someone to walk up to Anti and start a quarrel, and as soon as Dark realized he excused himself from the group he was talking with and stood beside Anti.

“Is there a problem?” Dark said coolly.

“It’s none of your business, creep.” The girl that was arguing with Anti spat.

It certainly was his business. He glared at the girl, giving her a cold and intimidating look as he straightened up to appear more threatening.

“I believe it is.” He said lowly.

“Look, this is an issue between me and him, you can stay out of it bas-“

She was cut off as another woman, this one being the head of her association, put a hand on her shoulder and got her to stop.

After learning that this was the association who was upset with Anti, Dark made it clear that they were to “stop with the petty grudge” unless they wanted to deal with him and they quickly agreed before taking off.

“We’re done with that, now.” Dark lightened up as he grabbed a drink of his own. “All that’s left is to see what we can find out about the group of Dusks that has been destroying the area.”

When they went upstairs, they were greeted by Fate, a spirit Dark assumed would be here.

“Dark, dear, how are you?” Fate asked.

“Fate.” Dark greeted. “I am doing well.”

She was one of the spirits Dark had a more business type connection with, nothing drastic or noteworthy really, but he had worked with her enough to understand he style.

“And who is this little darling with you?” Fate turned to Anti, getting uncomfortably close.

“This is Anti, he’s part of my association.” Dark answered, not liking her tone or how she took an interest in the younger spirit.

“An association?” Fate looked a bit surprised but smiled at Anti. “You must be quite special then. You know, once upon a time I asked Dark if he wanted to make an association with me, I even told him we could lead it together, but he refused.”

Yes, because Dark wasn’t fond of associations and never cared for another spirit enough to even consider it. Anti was presenting a lot of firsts.

“I do hope we will get some time to get to know each other more, I’m quite curious to see what type of person you are.” Fate brushed Anti’s cheek, tips of her fingernails glided across the skin.

Dark grabbed Anti’s wrist and frowned at Fate. He didn’t want either of them to be around Fate any longer and he didn’t want Anti to take an interest in her. He didn’t know what he would do if Anti started leaning towards her instead of him.

“You will have to excuse us, though, we are quite busy right now.” Dark said before leading Anti away from her to another part of the room.

Dark did not like having another spirit touch Anti like that, thinking that he should be the only one to do so. Was this jealousy? Whatever it was, he was able to cool down after getting them both far enough away from Fate and having no other spirit approach them similarly.

“So… who was that?” Anti had asked.

“Fate. She’s would be the other… ‘respected’ Dusk around here. She’s a Dimension Dusk, quite powerful, which is how she got her status.”

“And she asked you to join her association?”

“It was a long time ago, she wanted us to form a group because of both our reputations and strengths. She was more interested in power and control, and I never liked the idea of dealing with other spirits, so I said no.”

“She seemed… charming.” Anti smirked as Dark glared at him.

“I would advise you to stay far away from her, she’ll only cause you trouble.” Dark replied quickly, covering a growl.

There was no way Anti was actually taking an interest in Fate, right? Dark would not allow that to happen, strange jealousy rising in his stomach again.

“Dark, calm down, I was just playing.” Anti chuckled. “I’m part of your group, not hers.”

Dark just sighed, not appreciating Anti’s teasing, but continued his investigation of the group of Dusks with practiced ease. He did, however keep a hand on Anti the entire time after their encounter with Fate, not wanting another spirit to try anything later and wanting Anti to stay with him instead of wandering off again.

After getting as much information as it seemed he was going to get, Dark decided it was time to return home. Anti, since he wasn’t talking to anyone, found a way to entertain himself by getting more champagne whenever he ran out, and ended up half asleep on Dark’s arm. Dark had taken them to the door and stepped outside, finding a shadow, but Anti stopped him before he did anything.

“Wait, hold on, you should carry me this time… like… piggyback style… ‘cause I’m tired… and that’s a good sleeping…place…” Anti mumbled.

He didn’t really give Dark any time to answer as he walked over behind him and wrapped his arms around his neck. Dark smiled softly, though no one else saw, and put his hands back to catch Anti as he jumped up on his back. Dark then lowered the two of them into the shadows and started heading home. Anti adjusted himself so he could lay his head comfortably between Dark’s neck and shoulder and watched as the two of them glided through the shadows.

Dark didn’t mind the position, finding it just as comfortable as the night Anti used him as a pillow. Just knowing where he was and being able to hold him was enough.

“Don’t try to go around that one…” he said lowly, still half asleep, as the two of them approached a block in their path from the lights.

“You know I can’t go through that, right?”

“Yeah, I know, I wanna try somethin’.”

“It wouldn’t exactly be the… greatest feeling if we ran into that.”

“I know. You said earlier that you wanted me to trust you, well, then you gotta trust me too.” Anti hummed.

“Alright.” Dark responded, and continued heading towards the blur in their path.

Dark felt as Anti started to move his energy, felt the flow of it with his own energy and realized what Anti was doing. Dark started to share his own energy as well, knowing that if this was going to work, then they had to work together as one.

As they got closer to the wall, Dark heard as Anti took a deep breath before he felt the spark of energy of Anti’s teleportation ability as the two of them teleported past the wall while staying in the shadows.

Dark slowed to a stop as the two of them looked back at the wall.

“Ha, we did it.” Anti said sleepily while smiling.

“It seems we did.” Dark hummed.

The warm content feeling returned along with a wave of pride. He was proud of Anti for improving his abilities and being the one to try this trick. Anti is a lot smarter than he thinks himself to be; Dark would have to find a way to have him see that.

Dark continued on their way back home with a smile, soon realizing that Anti had fallen asleep on his back and chuckled softly. He brought the two of them up to Mark’s bedroom, setting Anti down on the bed and leaving to grab comfortable pajamas for the two of them. He moved the covers of the bed to lay both of them underneath it and watched as Anti looked peaceful in his sleep and cuddled up to him.

Dark was happy again, truly happy; a strange emotion for him to be feeling. He leaned forwards to place a kiss on Anti’s lips, being careful not to wake him up, and moved to rest his forehead against the younger spirit’s.

Proven by their trick of teleporting in the shadows earlier, their connection with one another was getting better, so Dark decided to try something else as he drifted off to sleep.

Sure enough, their connection was strong enough for Dark to be able to move Mark’s consciousness to Jack’s mindscape alongside his own. He met Jack and Anti there, both being surprised to see Mark with him, and the four of them split up.

Dark and Anti walked over together to the gazebo area of the mindscape, Dark going to check area since last time he was there it was fading from the attacks of the Nightmare Dusk. It was better now, though, and Dark couldn’t find a trace of the other Dusk’s energy and was happy with that.

Anti asked about Mark being here and Dark explained how he wanted to try it to see if the connection had gotten strong enough for it. They both started talking about it and Dark brought up how they would be able to do more tricks once their connection improved.

“Well, then how do we make the connection stronger?” Anti had asked.

“There are many ways the connection can be strengthened, merely being next to each other slowly effects it, however…”

Dark took both of Anti’s hands in his and directed both of them to sit down on the grass in front of one another.

“It would help to familiarize ourselves with the other’s energy, become close enough with it to be able to act like it is our own without a second thought, almost instinctual.”

Dark pulled Anti closer until their knees were pressed together and leaned forward to rest their foreheads together, both closing their eyes.

“So, give me your energy…” Dark hummed softly. “And I’ll give you mine.”

Dark began to let his energy flow between the two of them through their folded hands, feeling Anti return the motion as their bodies gradually became familiar with the other’s energy.

It was warm to Dark, warm and comforting. He wasn’t worrying about Anti’s health or fighting another spirit or trying to use one of their skills, he was just sharing his energy with the younger spirit. He wasn’t used to feeling these emotions and wasn’t quite sure how to act on them, but he knew what he wanted to do. Without a second thought, Dark leaned forward and pressed his lips against Anti’s.

He was a bit hesitant at first, but when he felt the younger spirit press back, he smiled with the kiss. He wasn’t expecting Anti to take it further, though, nipping at his lower lip and crawling into his lap, feeling hands cup his cheeks and tilt his head up for a rougher kiss with tongue and all. Dark couldn’t stop a low growl from escaping, gripping onto the younger’s hips and felt their energy mixing with each touch. Anti adjusted himself on Dark’s lap to roll his hips down, getting Dark to let out another growl as Anti moved from Dark’s lips to bite along his neck, licking the skin there. This took a turn that Dark wasn’t expecting at all but was not bothered by it one bit. He nuzzled the side of Anti’s face, spreading energy there in an almost possessive manner to mark the younger as his own.

“Hey Darky, I gotta question.” Anti mumbled between leaving marks on Dark’s neck.

“Mmm?” Dark made a low rumble next to his ear.

“If spirits can pick up on other spirits’ energy…” Anti dragged his fingers down Dark’s sides. “What would happen if we mixed our energy like this?”

“Then everyone would know you’re _mine_.” Dark brought Anti’s face back up and licked into his mouth, fighting with Anti’s tongue and readjusting his grip as Anti rocked his hips against him.

“Gotta have it work both ways, Darky.” Anti smirked and nipped at Dark’s cheek. “’Cause you’re also mine.”

Dark knew he had belonged to Anti the day they met, it was simple fact at this point. If someone had told him before that he would’ve fallen this much for a sparky and impulsive yet endearing and charming spirit like Anti, Dark would’ve scoffed and said he would never risk his reputation for such a thing as a relationship. However, now that he met Anti, got to know him more, got to live together for a while and train together, Dark knew he was willing to throw everything he had away for the other spirit.  
It was kind of concerning.

Anti had brought his hands back down to Dark’s sides and slipped them underneath his dress shirt, but Dark grabbed his wrists before he could do anything else. He knew where this was going and he wanted to continue, but he also wanted to do this properly and give Anti proper treatment and time to work up to that later.

“As appealing as your train of thought is, Anti, you have to remember where we are.” Dark brought their hands back in the air between the two of them, giving Anti a softer kiss before moving him from his lap.

“No fun.” Anti pouted, though he grinned afterwards.

“There is a time and place for everything.”

“God, you sound so old.” Anti chuckled as Dark huffed.

Dark moved the two of them over to one of the trees and rested his back against it, pulling Anti to rest his back against Dark’s chest, and he wrapped his arms around Anti’s torso and folded his hands together. He started to share his energy once more, gently flowing between them, and felt Anti rest his head back.

“Think that made the connection better?” Anti teased, resting his hands on top of Dark’s.

Dark chuckled lightly at the thought.

They spent most of the night in that position, soothingly moving their energy together as they rested in each other’s embrace, feeling more content in the safety of each other’s presence.

Then Anti sighed.

“I want you to answer something for me.” Anti murmured.

“What is it?”

“Why’d you decide to make our association, or Nightfall I suppose it’s called now.”

“Because it would get the other association to stop with their grudge.”

“If it was only that, you could’ve just told them to back off just by just being an acquaintance with me, I didn’t need to be in your group to let that association know you didn’t want them picking on me anymore.”

Dark’s arms tensed a bit around Anti. He was getting close to a subject that Dark was not willing to admit so easily. Dark was insecure, a feeling that he was not supposed to have ever known. He was supposed to be the one above everyone else, standing proudly without a hint of doubt or fear.

“Just… tell me the real reason.” Anti continued.

Anti was the one person he knew he couldn’t stand above, though, and reluctantly revealed the reason.

“Being in this association with you… Nightfall… it makes it official… it lets everyone else know we are together… that you belong with me.” Dark murmured, and dropped his head down, hair brushing against Anti’s cheek as he said barely above a whisper, “and you can’t leave me if you’re in Nightfall with me.”

He was afraid of Anti leaving him, it was probably the one thing in this world he was afraid of now. He was expecting Anti to do something… tease him or make some silly remark or something of the sort and was caught off guard when the younger turned around in his arms and held him tightly, nuzzling his cheek and speaking through their energy to reassure him, kissing his temple as well.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you… so just…” Dark murmured, still afraid none the less.

“I’m here, Dark, I’m not going anywhere. You have me.” Anti hummed.

And they stayed like that, nestled together in one another’s embrace, dreading the moment when they had to wake up.

“Thank you…” Anti finally said after thoroughly nuzzling Dark’s cheek.

“Hmm?” Dark pulled back to see Anti’s eyes.

“For trusting me enough to show this side of yourself.” Anti ran his hands threw the soft fluff of hair on Dark’s head and pulled him in to nip at his lips again. “Let me be the only one who sees it.”

Dark placed his hands on Anti’s cheeks, fingers under his ears, returning the kiss.

“Then don’t let anyone else touch you.” Dark’s voice rumbled. 

“Aw, not even Jack or Mark? What about movie cuddle time?” Anti teased.

“Family is permitted.” Dark responded simply.

“You got yourself a deal.” Anti smirked.

Dark smiled and brought Anti’s head down to rest against his shoulder again, resting his own head lightly against Anti’s. They both moved their arms to wrap around one another in a hug once more and relaxed in the final moments of the night.

“Remind me to never act this mushy in public.” Anti mumbled.

“Then don’t” Dark chuckled as Anti swatted at him. “I’m the only one allowed to see this side of you too.”

“Good, ‘cause we got an intimidatin’ reputation to uphold.”

Yes, Anti was a serious threat to his own reputation, he would have to make sure not to show too much affection to the younger in public unless he wanted the word to get out that he was a softie now.

They gave their hug a final small squeeze as they closed their eyes and felt their humans begin to wake up, returning to the real world.

…

Almost immediately after the night in the mindscape, Anti took to cuddling up to Dark and hanging onto him like a koala bear whenever possible. Dark didn’t mind, he was fond of it honestly, but he didn’t show that he was. It not only acted as a way for Dark to keep track of the younger spirit, knowing that he was safe by practically clinging to him all the time, but it also acted as a reminder that Anti _wanted_ to be with Dark. It was reassuring in a way.

It helped with the connection as well, being close to one another serving to strengthen the bond as well as giving opportunity to familiarize themselves with the other’s energy more. There was a time when Dark was sitting on the couch reading a book with Anti snuggling up to his side, arms wrapped around his stomach while nuzzling his own cheek against Dark’s shoulder.

“Your energy’s so warm” Anti had murmured, smiling softly as Dark leaned over to kiss the top of his head.

“All for you.” He replied.

And it was true, Dark had an excessive amount of energy and didn’t need to have all of it all the time. The two of them had talked about it before, Anti asking about different types of energy and how they functioned as Dark explained. He offered to let Anti use his own energy, knowing that it would help the younger spirit to have more and knew it wouldn’t affect Dark himself if he let Anti do so.

They did so often, Anti finding Dark’s energy soothing and Dark finding that warm feeling return from caring for Anti this way.

Jack found them like that on the couch and asked about it, so Dark responded with a tease by saying that Anti was mooching. It turned into an explanation as Dark talked about the importance of spirits having energy and what it’s used for as well as mentioning how their energy is compatible with one another.

“And as I explained before, I have more than enough energy to care for myself, so Anti is mooching off of me so he can have more energy himself.” Dark finished saying.

“You said I could, so don’t call it mooching.” Anti frowned.

He did say Anti could, but that didn’t mean he still couldn’t tease the other about it.

“He’s mooching.” Dark nodded then picked up his book and continued reading where he left off.

None of this was what Dark had expected at all out of a relationship; he always pictured himself to be single as Mark dated someone else. He made sure not to take their relationship for granted seeing as both the humans and the spirits were together. Some might argue that he and Anti were too different, that there was too much of a drastic difference between the two of them for their relationship worked, but Dark found that he enjoyed the lively energy and bright smiles that Anti brought and it seemed the other appreciated the calmness and grounded security that Dark had. It wasn’t so much of the two of them being opposites as much as it was that the two of them had a piece of something that the other needed to be complete.

Dark met Anti. It wasn’t a spectacularly eventful meeting, but Dark wouldn’t change it for the world. He was grateful to have met the younger spirit and eventually learned that the warm feeling that kept returning with Anti’s presence was love.

He loved Anti and Anti loved him.

There wasn’t anything else he needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am iffy about this chapter, so if there was a part that you think could use some revision, don't be afraid to ask about it, but it was a lot. I just don't know if this is good enough or not because it does feel like a lot of repeating but I can't _not_ say it, like, if Dark hugged Anti in a scene in the main story, then he's going to do the same thing here, it's the same person doing the same thing.
> 
> I'm pretty sure someone is going to ask about Anti's feelings, so if someone does comment about it I'll probably do it but don't be surprised if it takes a month... or five... to get that one done.


End file.
